What's the deal with Avraham?

                                                      What's the deal with Avraham?

    

           In last weeks Parsha (Torah portion) - Lech Lecha,  we began to read the story of Avraham Avinu, Abraham our father.  Now, before even thinking about the dramatic story of the Akeda - the 'sacrifice' of Yitzhak (Issac) we have to deal with the whole, "Gotta leave home, make a fresh new start" kind of thing.  And besides, the Akeda happens in a later Parsha!  😉

         So really, what's the BIG DEAL?  Avraham is told to go out on his own, right?  Like most of us need to do as we grow into adulthood, to go find his own place and start his own life.  Well...kind of, but not really...He is actually told to leave ("go forth" as most translations like to say) his father's home "...to the land that I will show you."  Bereshit (Genesis) 12:1.  WHY did he HAVE to leave his father's 'house' and go to some land that wasn't even on his GPS - that he wasn't even aware that it existed.  

         We quickly learn that Avraham was to be a 'blessing' and that he would have a 'great nation' made from him.  Avraham was to introduce the knowledge of HaShem (God) into the world.  But, he needed to go to a special, unique place in order to fulfill his destiny.  That place of course, we now know of as Israel, or Eretz Yisrael.  But WHY?  Why couldn't Avraham have simply worshipped HaShem from where he was?  After all, just about everyone reading this lives (currently...) OUTSIDE of the Land of Israel and is forced to worship HaShem and His holy days as best they can, where they are.  So, what's the lesson for all of us that we can apply to our lives TODAY?  

              It wasn't just that this was to serve as a lesson to teach us the uniqueness and centrality of Israel - the very Land from which blessing emanates.  It was to show us WHAT he had to leave behind and more importantly - WHY he had to leave it. 

             In order to properly be an 'Eved (servant of ) HaShem'  - Avraham had to leave everything he was familiar with - his family and what his father had taught him, his culture, his frame of reference (for ALL knowledge) and the very essence of all of the values of the society that he had been raised in.  

            He didn't merely change how he referred to things (giving familiar cultural or religious ideas new 'Hebrew names') but it was a TOTAL remake of every single thing about him and how he would perceive everything from that time onward.  

            No, he wasn't simply encouraged to 'think with a Hebraic mindset' or told to refer to all of his Facebook friends from that moment on as 'achi' (my brother) or 'achoti' (my sister).  He was to truly start fresh - with no preconceived notions.  He wasn't allowed to practice syncretism - he wasn't given the option of seeing what 'worked' or 'fit' within his new 'Hebraic mindset.'  How many of US, would have been, or even ARE willing to do the same?  

             I come across people all the time who are striving in their approaches to understanding HaShem and are trying to reclaim their 'lost' religious beliefs and understanding.  But, how many of them are willing to even consider what some of their brothers and sisters are doing (and how they understand things) in order for them to make the right choices in their personal religious lives?  Yes, even when those brothers and sisters have been doing it for the last few thousand years?  

          Where would we ALL be now, if Avraham had taken the approach of simply doing what he wanted to do, assuring himself that after all, HaShem knew his heart?  Something for us ALL to consider as we ALL struggle to leave behind the baggage we no longer need.  

(in front of Ma'arat HaMachpela - the Cave of the Patriarchs (where Avraham was buried) in Hevron)

                                        With love & hugs from Modi'in - home of the Maccabees, 

                                                                          Hanoch